Clebton's Blog

Long overdue update

claychan — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:20:40 +0000

Yes, it’s been 5 months since my last update. To give you an update, we celebrated Leah’s first birthday in September with a tea party. My sister surprised us with a cake that looked like a toy box with all of her actual toys. It looked so real that both Deb’s dad and grandfather thought it was real! In late September, Deb went back to work and my mom and Deb’s dad started their new jobs – as Leah’s babysitter! We are so blessed to have both parents available to take care of her while we are at work.

For Halloween, we bought a Princess Leia costume for Leah. It came with a white robe and a little wig with hair buns. Leah didn’t like the wig but we managed to attach a strap so it would stay on her head better. She didn’t seem to mind it after. I even pulled out my R2D2 3D-puzzle but she was kind of scared of it. I also started playing in a new league (ASHL ) with my team (JL). We’re not very good so we’re playing at the lowest level and still we have one of the worst records!

In November, we bought a new car! we noticed that things were getting squishy in our old car so we went with a Subaru Outback. It’s a lot more spacious and Leah seems to like it too.

In December we went to Disneyworld, but I think I’ll update you on that later as it deserves a post of it’s own.

Road trip!

claychan — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:07:28 +0000

This past week we had our first family road trip. The plan was to drive to Montreal and stay at our friend’s place for a few days. The drive usually takes 4-5 hours, so we tried to time the bulk of the driving around Leah’s bedtime. We left at 3:30pm and stopped at 5:30pm for dinner. Leah had already been screaming for a few minutes (she hates being stuck in the car seat). At the rest stop, Leah was so freaked out by the number of people there, that she would not sit in her high chair. I ended up eating dinner quickly and we went back to the car to feed her. Leah calmed down a bit after dinner, so we headed out on the road again.

We reached Montreal around 10pm but my google maps that I printed out didn’t really explain the turns and forks in the road (Afterwards, I found out that Highway 401 turns into Autoroute 20 in Quebec!). So after stopping and looking at the map again and calls to our friend we managed to arrive around 11:30pm (after a few circles around Montreal). The last hour and a half of driving included Leah screaming her head off which was not fun. Lesson learned: get a GPS or carefully study the map before leaving.

Things we enjoyed in Montreal:

brunch at L’Avenue
dinner at L’Express
water park with Leah
Laval mall
fresh croissants and bagels

Leah also had a chance to practice her stair climbing at our friend’s place and she started to learn how to backup crawling! Too bad she didn’t like the sleeper tent. She wouldn’t even go into the room during the day. The drive back was a little better, we had a stop off and found a Winners and a Starbucks to spend some time in.

Lesson to pee learned

claychan — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:13:55 +0000

There’s no typo in the title. Last weekend was a long weekend which also meant that the ribfest was happening. We decided to go to the ribfest for the very first time as a family. Leah took her first nap and when she woke up, we fed her lunch and started to head out. We thought about changing her diaper but decided that we could do it on a blanket when we got to the ribfest. Well, things didn’t go as planned. When we arrived, the place was packed with people lining up for ribs and tables/chairs for people to sit and eat. I think Leah had a fun time, she quickly absorbed all the sights, sounds and smells (mmmm… ribs!). While Deb lined up to get some ribs, I took Leah and walked around with her. Then the weather started to get gloomy. We found some seats under an umbrella and enjoyed the ribs as it started to pour. At least the rain didn’t last long and when we were finished, we decided to head out. Since it was only 4pm, I thought it would be nice to visit the new grocery store Mcewan and see what that was about. When we got there, we got a coffee and shopped. Since the store closed at 6pm, Deb wanted to shop around the outdoor mall. So we went out and walked around. At Banana Republic, I noticed Leah’s diaper was getting pretty full and she was getting a bit cranky. After Banana Republic, we found the family washroom and headed over. Unfortunately, the only family washroom was in use so I hung onto Leah while Deb checked out the nursing room in the women’s bathroom. Right before Deb came back, I felt something warm on my hand and realized that Leah had just peed on me! Her diaper got so full, that it started to sag, which was probably how her pee got through. I guess the lesson here is: Change the diaper when/if you can, cause diapers can get full.

What’s after crawling?

claychan — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:43:24 +0000

WALKING!!

Last Saturday, Deb and I were both awake in the morning and noticed Leah take one step forward before falling to the ground. After witnessing this, Deb somehow knew that Leah was looking to try it again and got me to get the video camera. Sure enough, Leah was standing by the coffee table and started to take a step. Deb managed to capture Leah take at least five steps before falling. It was pretty amazing that both of us were able to witness this milestone. I missed out when she first started to pull herself up to stand and to see her walk her first steps was perfect.

The next day, Deb shared at church about the things she’s learned being a mom and we were able to show the congregation the video that we made of her walking. When we got home, Leah had a nap but didn’t get to sleep much (must have been the excitement of walking!). While Deb and I were watching her, we taught her how to clap her hands and she managed to coordinate her hands to clap. It’s been quite an eventful weekend! (or should I say milestone weekend?!)

Gesundheit!

claychan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:48:05 +0000

It’s been a while since my last post. It seems like the days are going so fast. For an update, here’s what has happened the past month:

Went to a wedding, where Deb was the general manager and I took care of Leah (with the help of my mom and sister)
Leah got sick for the first time (no thanks to me!)
Leah came to work with me during a network downtime and napped in her new travel crib
I got to celebrate my first Father’s Day!

This past week Leah got sick again and Deb also got sick too. Deb is starting to get better so hopefully Leah will get better soon as well. Lately, Leah has started trying to stand on her own. With a little help, she’s been able to stand on her own and balance for at least 10 seconds. She’s also started to bob her head whenever she hears music or is really happy. I think she may have learned that from me since I’m always nodding at her. She’s also become quite familiar with one of her music tables that play songs and sounds. Flicking a specific switch to start the music whenever the song ends. Pretty amazing!

The gates have started to come out as she’s become quite fast at crawling (still like Gollum!). Soon we’ll have to start blocking and putting away our shelving units so that she won’t start using them as ladders.

For Father’s Day, I got a new lens for my a camera (Thanks Deb!!). The lens is perfect for portrait shots so hopefully I’ll start taking some more portraits of Deb and Leah.

We had kind of a scare last night. Leah started having an allergic reaction to something that she ate. We think it was from the 2% milk that she drank from a cup. She seemed to like it at the time, but when we were about to put her to sleep, we noticed some hives forming on her chin, neck and leg. It looks like what ever the milk touched, flared up. We quickly brought her up and gave her a bath and the hives cleared up the next morning. I guess Leah won’t be trying any ice cream any time soon …

My precious

claychan — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:41:16 +0000

If you’ve seen The Lord of the Ring then you’ll know what the title is referencing. True, Leah *really* loves rings and shiny things but the title of this post came from a comment my sister made. She just watched Leah crawl for the first time and she said she crawled like Gollum. With one foot on the ground and one knee on the ground, Leah makes her way around the room in search of shiny things. She’s also started to pull herself up to stand and explore new territories called The Couch. Right now we have her pretty contained on the mats but she’s been venturing past them and soon we’ll need to block things off and gate things up.

What’s after rollin’ ?

claychan — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:04:46 +0000

Crawlin’ !! This past week Leah hit 2 milestones!! She started sitting up on her own during the week and I watched her do it one morning. On Sunday morning, I put her on one end of the mat and sat at the other. I clapped my hands and encouraged her to come to me. After a few starts and stops she managed to eventually crawl over to me. I was so happy to be able to witness it, I totally forgot to record it for Deb who was still sleeping. I brought her up to tell Deb and plopped Leah on the bed who proceeded to try to crawl to her mom!

This weekend we lowered Leah’s mattress since she’s started to sit up on her own. We also got a new video surveillance camera to keep an eye on her. Since moving to her own room, my homemade video baby-cam (a linux laptop with a webcam) isn’t up to par with night vision since her room is pretty dark. The new camera does audio and has night vision which is pretty cool. It also comes with a handy handset so you can watch your baby.

Her First Word!!

claychan — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:29:57 +0000

I’ve always wondered what Leah’s first word(s) would be. Would it be “mommy”? or “daddy”? or something funny like “Mine!” (which was my cousin’s first word). My cousin was playing with some dolls and my sister and I were taking them away saying “mine”. To our amazement, she got upset and grabbed the doll back screaming “MINE!”.

A few nights ago after a morning feeding, Deb was half sleeping and I was burping Leah. I told Deb, “After I burp her, I’m going to go get ready for work, ok?” then Leah said “okay”. Deb opened her eyes and asked “Did she just say okay?”. Maybe we were just hearing things, or maybe she just babbled something that sounded like “okay”, but one thing is for sure, the timing was uncanny.

It’s not easy being green …

claychan — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:16:47 +0000

Sing it Kermit. I think we’ll be hearing him sing this song in our household when Leah starts watching TV shows! But this post isn’t about Kermit’s “green”‘ colour issues, it’s about being environmentally friendly, or “green”. We started using reusable diapers for Leah in the hopes to save both money and the environment. The diapers are pretty cool cause they can expand and grow as your baby grows up until they start potty training. When we first started using them, her pees and poos weren’t too bad since she was still only drinking breast milk. But that has all changed when the solids were introduced. She started eating solids for a few weeks and her poos have become a lot more solid. So solid, that I have to use tissue to scrape it off before I start rinsing things out. We’re planning on getting one of those toilet hoses for cloth diapers so hopefully it will help. I’ve heard that they are quite powerful, I just hope it doesn’t spray the poo all over the place, cause it’s not easy cleaning brown …

Home-body’s home

claychan — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:54:41 +0000

The word “Home-body” is in reference to what I describe myself: Someone who enjoys the comforts of home and prefers to stay in at home, rather than go out. Maybe it’s the laziness in me, or maybe it’s … actually, it’s probably laziness. This weekend, we had really nice weather which we could have taken advantage of but decided not to. First it was Leah’s late morning nap which we didn’t want to disturb, then it was early afternoon nap, and finally we had a few friends come over before heading out to grand opening party. At least we got to go out on Sunday and spend the afternoon at the mall. It’s funny how before Leah, we would bump into other couples shopping at the mall and now with Leah, we’re bumping into families at Toys R Us!

Lately, Leah has been pretty sensitive with loud noises. We’ve seen her freak out from loud water taps, a large group clapping and ripping tin foil paper. I wonder if the quietness of our home is making her over-sensitive to sounds or maybe it’s just normal. I guess a sudden loud sound would freak anyone out too if they weren’t expecting it.